Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a bill that would have blocked the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from purchasing land in the state.
In discussing her veto, Hobbs said, “Improvements to systems that protect our infrastructure are important. However, this legislation is ineffective at counter-espionage and does not directly protect our military assets. Additionally, it lacks clear implementation criteria and opens the door to arbitrary enforcement.”
The Bill, SB 1109, states that the “People’s Republic of China may not purchase, own, acquire by grant or devise or have a substantial interest in real property in this state.”
“This act is necessary to protect this state from global security threats and halt or reverse the influence operation of the Chinese Communist Party that poses a risk to the national security of the United States,” the bill adds, asserting that the bill is “necessary to protect the critical infrastructure of this state.”
“This act’s protection of this state’s military, commercial and agricultural assets from foreign espionage and sabotage will place this state in a significantly stronger position to withstand national security threats,” the bill further states. “This act is necessary to protect this state’s F-35 equipment and technology and the F-35’s squadron’s critical mission to protect our national security.”
Arizona Senate Majority Leader Janae Shamp (R) condemned Hobbs’ veto. “SB 1109 was a commonsense security measure to ensure enemies of the United States would not have easy access to our military bases and critical infrastructure to carry out harm. Luke Air Force Base recently faced this very real danger,” Shamp said. “It is utterly insane that Arizona’s top elected official would rather be an obstructionist against safeguarding our citizens from threats than to sign legislation giving our state a fighting chance at proactively preventing attacks.”
